Rocket Science Weddings and Events

This is a beautiful table setting done for Engage!12 at the Four Seasons Las Vegas by Destinations by Design. It couldn't have been a more perfect night, just looking at the photos makes me want to go back.

I loved seeing the cylinder INSIDE the bird cage, how creative! One of the drawbacks of lanterns and bird cages is how to light them without getting wax everywhere. Problem solved! not only does it add dimension and visual interest, the cylinder is easy to clean up. They used cylinders throughout the tablescape, simply lovely!

Well, it is almost the New Year. I cannot wait to see what 2012 has in store for Rocket Science, and Cylinder Thursday! Maybe my new year resolution will be to do more than one blog post a week. Maybe.

Here is my ornament cylinder for you. As you may know, I love stripes, so I have lots and lots of striped ornaments. My tree is red, white and silver. I think the combination looks striking in the cylinder! You could put these cylinders anywhere, fireplace mantle above the stockings, as a centerpiece for your Christmas table... and for my Jewish friends, change out the red ornaments for blue and mix in a menorah!

Now is the best time of year to stock up on ornaments for your decorating. All the stores have their ornaments on sale. I like Target's multi-packs.

Whatever you celebrate, I hope your holiday season is/was filled with good food, family, friends, joy and laughter.

Where'd all the presents go?!

I love birch! I love the feel and texture and color it provides. It can be natural and modern at the same time. (It would be a great addition to my all white wedding where I use the rice cylinders...)

I can't take credit for these cylinders, Debbie of Distinctly Debbie created this set for the last Independent Wedding Association wedding fair. I saw them and immediately thought, "CYLINDER THURSDAY!" and she graciously agreed to let me post them.

I actually think it would be amazing to wrap the cylinders in birch bark and then place a candle inside like a birch luminary. Or mix birch branch cylinders with cylinders full of white pillar candles instead of floating. Or put moss in the bottom of the cylinder and have the branches sitting on top of the moss, then reaching out of the cylinder. Birch probably deserves a few more Cylinder Thursday entries.

At long last, Cylinder Thursday is back, and with gusto! Now, loyal reader, you may have a sense of deja vu when looking at this entry. I did indeed do an entry with an orange cylinder made like the cylinders you see here. However, I think this is worthy of its own post because here you can see the cylinders in action, and in TECHNICOLOR!

Tonight was a great open house at the Chowgirls' Parlor. They were celebrating getting their liquor license as well as the unveiling of this great, urban event space. The Parlor is perfect for parties of 40-60 people, who want an intimate art atmosphere. The art on the walls currently is by Chank Fonts, but a little bird told me the next show may feature the super talented Josie Lewis.

A lot of people put a lot of work in to making this party great, including: Connie Duglin Specialty Linens, 1012 photo, Sweets Bakeshop, Two Smart Cookies, Muddy Paws Cheesecake, and all the staff at Chowgirls.

There was a great turnout, it was fun (as always!) to chat with Katrina of Studio Laguna, Matt of The Traveling Photo Booth, Sally (and Maia) of La Vie Photography, and the Wedding Guys Matthew and Bruce.

Without further ado, here are some technicolor cylinders and some pictures of the party.

Yes, those are fuzzy fur linens (faux of course!).

This blue color was probably my favorite.

By the end of the night, the logo cookie was the only one left.

First off, I need to apologize for the quality of these photos. I really wanted a sweet all white tablescape to put these on and to have some amazing photographer like Becca Dilley shoot it, but all I have is my iPhone. (Someday I will have some client who wants to do a funky all-white wedding, and when I do, I will post nice pics of these cylinders then!)

Rice. A wedding staple, but not any more. Traditionally tossed (or hurled) at the newlyweds as the exit the church, this practice is all but banned these days. The poor birdies can't digest the rice and it kills them. Moreover, you don't want to get a piece of rice stuck in your false eyelashes or down your dress. I also have a huge flinching problem, so a whole line of people throwing rice at me would probably not be the best idea.

Here is a way to take a "wedding tradition" and make it new, rice cylinders! I used a small tea light in a metal casing, but you could use a votive or a small gas lamp (both burn longer than a tea light). The rice covers up the not pretty part of the candle so all you see is the flame.

White Rice CylinderThis is with flash, so you can see how cool the white looks.

Here we are without flash, so you can really see the glow of the candle, how romantic!

Here I put it against a white background, but it kind of just looks yellow. But at least you can see that even white on white, the rice has enough dimension to create a lot of visual impact.